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LORRI HELFANDThe commission will vote on a reclaimed water expansion that includes underground storage and recovery wells and would expand availability to more than 10,000 homes.
LARGO - The city is poised to vote on a plan next week to dramatically expand reclaimed water service, in part through the use of a storage process that injects treated wastewater underground.
The city will vote Tuesday on a master plan that includes the aquifer storage and recovery wells, known as ASRs, watering schedules and metering of reclaimed water use.
The master plan says that by using all three options, the system could be expanded to serve more than 10,000 homes. The city's reclaimed water system now serves about 1,800 homes. The master plan includes an option for up to 11 wells, at a cost of about $1-million each.
ASR wells store reclaimed water so that it's available during dry periods, a key in providing reliable reclaimed water service.
One well could store 1-million gallons a day, said Anthony Andrade, project manager for the Southwest Florida Water Management District, known as Swiftmud, and could hold at least 100-million gallons.
Largo has in hand a feasibility study for the wells and will consider next week an overall master plan for a reclaimed water system. It is studying the system in concert with Clearwater, which is examining its own system.
It is now working on the design and permitting for a $1-million test well, a process that may take at least a year. Swiftmud will pay half the cost.
Experts recommend that the test well be drilled at the Largo Wastewater Reclamation Facility to allow better control over the treatment system so that injected water meets Florida Department of Environmental Protection standards.
The ASR wells have one attractive advantage: They're cheaper than other methods of storage.
The master plan estimates above ground storage tanks would cost 25 cents per gallon; lined open storage ponds would be 10 cents per gallon; and aquifer storage and recovery wells would cost 2 cents per gallon.
A disadvantage: They can be controversial.
A couple of years ago, a state proposal to relax the rules for treating wastewater before pumping it under the Everglades was abandoned after an outcry from environmentalists.
The Sierra Club and other environmental groups have expressed concerns that groundwater could become contaminated or that the aquifer could be damaged by such storage.
"We would argue that the appropriate science has not been done to prove the safety of these wells," said Alan Farago, the Everglades chair of the Sierra Club Florida Chapter.
"What we're saying is that we're not convinced that current drinking water standards are adequate," Farago said. Still, the wells are used elsewhere.
In southwest Florida, 15 similar reclaimed water storage projects are in various stages of study or permitting.
St. Petersburg, which has long used deep wells to dispose of excess treated wastewater, drilled two ASR wells about 300 to 500 feet deep.
Hillsborough County and Englewood have constructed ASR wells that are in the testing phase.
Pinellas County is doing an ASR feasibility study and Oldsmar is planning to do one, Andrade said.
Water would be stored in a porous layer of limestone. There the water is brackish, and not drinkable, Andrade said.
The water stored in ASR wells would not contaminate drinking water, because the Floridan Aquifer, the source of potable water, is much deeper, said Norton Craig, Largo's environmental services manager. Plus, he said, ASR wells are not constructed within 500 feet of drinkable supply wells.
Andrade, project manager for Swiftmud, said Largo's reclaimed water is highly treated and meets standards. The water in ASR wells would also be treated with ultraviolet light, he said.
- Lorri Helfand can be reached at 445-4155 or at lorri@sptimes.com